The first date principle of product development

“…don’t ask your customers what they like or don’t like about your product. Or what they’d change if they could. That’s all about you. If you want really insightful answers, ask them about themselves instead. You can find out a ton about you by asking them about them.
Jason Fried
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We’ve previously discussed how the first date analogy applies to selling an OSS. Until reading Jason’s quote above, I hadn’t equated it to product development too!

If you want feedback from customers (or potential customers), you’re generally going to get more valuable information by asking questions about them and understanding their situation than by asking what they think about you. Interestingly, this ties in well with the initial empathising phase of Design Thinking.

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